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"Isaiah 2:1-4, Prophecy or Tautology?" by Holger W. Neubauer
When an interpretation of scripture has the Lord speaking in a needless repetition of words, that interpretation is most assuredly false. A tautology is just that; a needless repetition of words. Prophecy on the other hand is a demonstration that the God of heaven is omniscient and that his word will always come to pass (Deuteronomy 18:22).Sadly, the traditional interpretation of Isaiah 2:1-4, which contains one of the great prophecies of the Old Testament, has the Lord guilty of a tautology and destroys the meaning of this pointed prophecy. Notice please, Isaiah's prophecy, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains” (Isaiah 2:2). This prophecy is foretelling the Lord's church (1 Timothy 3:15). The mountains are an allusion to governments or authorities (Jeremiah 51:25). God's house would take its place in the very highest authority. But when would this house be established? Isaiah said, “in the last days.” The traditional position avers that the last days is the entire Christian dispensation. This is largely because the last days are present as Peter introduces the church on Pentecost (Acts 2:16, 17). However, if the last days refer to the entire Christian dispensation then Isaiah's prophecy is nothing but a tautology, a needless repetition of words. The traditional position destroys this great prophesy. If the last days refers to the “church age,” then Isaiah prophesied that the church would be established in the church age. This is tantamount to saying that the church age would be established in the church age. This is a tautology. This interpretation destroys the genius of prophecy. It would be like saying, “Ben's grandchildren will be born in the age of Ben's grand children.” The last days are far more specific than a two-thousand year period and counting. The last days refers to the last days of the Jewish age and a specific forty year history. In James 5:3 we find a direct reference to the “last days.” Please listen carefully to the inspired penman, “Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” James said that they “had heaped treasure together for the last days.” If the “last days” refers to the entirety of the Christian age, then James told these first century rich men that their punishment was the Christian age! This absurdity is what the traditional position implies. If however, the punishment James refers to is the last days of Israel, which is exactly what James has in mind, then their punishment was right around the corner. This fits with the context because James said, “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:8). The phrase “draweth nigh” is the same Greek phrase translated “at hand” in Matthew 4:17. James affirms the coming of the Lord was AT HAND then! James also mentions Elijah and the three year and six months of an earlier Jewish tribulation in the same context (James 5:17). This is Jewish judgment language that reveals a type of the “time, times and half of time, 3 ½ years, 42 months or 1260 days of the Great Tribulation time that Jesus and Daniel predicted (Daniel 12:2,7,11; Matthew 24:21). The last days ended with the “last day.” Daniel would be resurrected or “stand in his lot at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:13). Daniel would be resurrected at the end of the Jewish age, not the Christian age. When Martha affirmed that Lazarus would be raised at the last day (John 11:24), she was affirming what Daniel taught. Daniel 12:2 predicts the resurrection of “everlasting life” and “everlasting contempt” would come at the “time of the end” (Daniel 12:4). Daniel identifies the “time of the end” as the “abomination which makes desolate” (Daniel 12:11). Jesus interpreted the “abomination that maketh desolate” to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15). The last days of the Jewish age would end with the last day of that same age. Just read Daniel 12 along with Matthew 24:1-34 and you will come to the inescapable conclusion that resurrection (Matthew 24:31) was to take place at the end of the Jewish age. Moses predicted the “latter days” or last days of Israel in Deuteronomy 31:27. Moses predicted that after his death the Jewish nation would “corrupt themselves” (Deuteronomy 31:29), and become a “crooked and perverse generation” and “a very froward generation” (Deuteronomy 32:5, 20). The Bible affirms a generation is forty years (Hebrews 3:9, 10). Jesus was baptized at 30 (Luke 3:23), His ministry lasted 3:1/2 years, hence the church started in A.D. 33 (though the Julian calendar would be slightly recalculated). That 40 year “crooked and perverse generation” was already in existence when Peter preached on Pentecost. Peter proclaimed, “save yourselves from this untoward generation” (Acts 2:40). That fateful generation had arrived! Peter affirmed that he was in the “last days” (Acts 2:16, 17). Moses likened his people to “Sodom” during this time (Deuteronomy 32:32). John repeated the same theme when he said, “the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Revelation 11:8). Now just where was Jesus crucified? John was speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem. The last days of Old Covenant Israel would end with Jerusalem's destruction. It was in these same last days that Joel prophesied the pouring out of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-32). The pouring out of the Spirit produced miracles that lasted for a generation. Guy Woods, in his debate with a former member of the church that turned charismatic named Ben Franklin, argued that Micah 7:15 predicted that miracles would last for 40 years. The text says, “According to the days of thy coming out of land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvelous things.” Notice the phrase, “according to the days.” Just how long did these days last? Deuteronomy 29:5 says, “And I have led you forty years in the wilderness.” Miracles would last for 40 years. In Acts 2:15-17, Peter, in perfect concert with scripture and divine history confirmed that miracles was for the last days, as he said, “For these are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the LAST DAYS, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.” The traditional position affirms that miracles lasted only for the first part of the last days. This is denying plain scripture. The Bible simply teaches that miracles were for the last days; ALL OF THEM! The miracles lasted for forty years and were completed with Jesus' return in Jerusalem. This is exactly what Paul affirmed in 1 Corinthians 1:6-8, where He said, “Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall confirm you UNTO THE END, that ye be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now either the end has arrived and Jesus has returned or spiritual gifts are still in the church. Any adroit Pentecostal preacher will wear out this text. This is the text the previously mentioned Franklin used against Woods. Franklin argued that spiritual gifts would remain until Jesus returned. Woods saw this point and argued Paul referred to Jesus' coming in Jerusalem. This is our position. One of the best debaters of the church argued our position in public debate! Woods is considered a champion and we are heretics? Oh, consistency thou art a jewel! Pentecostal preachers who argue that spiritual gifts are promised until the coming of Christ are emphatically right. But the Pentecostal preacher is wrong that spiritual gifts are still available because Jesus has returned, proven by the fact that his coming was “drawing nigh” (James 5:8; Hebrews 10:37) at the time the New Testament was being written. Pentecostals are wrong that spiritual gifts are still available and the A.D. 33 Advocates are wrong that Jesus' return is in the future. The traditional position avers that miracles died with the apostles. This position has been repeated countless thousands of times in the church. Ask the average member of the church when miracles ceased and he will affirm, “when the last apostle died.” Yet, there is not one scintilla of scripture that even hints at such a doctrine. Paul said, “but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:10). The completion of scripture, the end of miracles, and the coming of the Lord were all synchronous events. We affirm without reservation that miracles were promised for ALL of the last days. We affirm the last days were the last days of the Jewish age and lasted for forty years. We affirm Isaiah's prophecy was no tautology. We affirm that Jesus' return in Jerusalem brought an end to the miracles and the last days. We now live in an age THAT HAS NO END! Listen to Gabriel's testimony, “And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:33). Ephesians 3:21 says, “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.” Do we believe tradition or scripture? Do we give into warmed over denominational presuppositions or do we bow the knee to Jesus? Let the authority of Jesus stand and let us affirm just what scripture affirms: that the LAST DAYS refers to the last generation of the Jewish age, FOR THE CHRISTIAN AGE HAS NO END!